Crystal Reports for All
May 06, 2016

Crystal Reports for All

Marie Rodriguez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Crystal Reports

We use Crystal Reports to access data within our legacy system. Since Crystal Reports can access data from multiple data sources, we are able to combine data from dbase, along with access, MS SQL, and mySQL databases. I extract data from the databases to provide to our bookkeeper, executives, and team members for ad-hoc reports and financial accounting. Our dbase databases are difficult to read. I am able to pull the data out with simple queries easily. The one thing that I have a problem with is getting the data at the same time from multiple data types. Frequently, if I need to get data from dbase and Access, I must create sub-reports and append them. But, I would expect that since dbase is so old.

Pros

  • Simple queries. I am able to use SQL queries even when pulling from non-SQL databases.
  • I am able to easily modify reports and change them to meet my needs. That allows me to save them.
  • Crystal Reports will link to several different data types.
  • There is a lot of help available for Crystal Reports. If I get stuck on something, I am able to find it easily.

Cons

  • I want to be able to export to a more updated version of Microsoft Office.
  • There should be a better way to ensure that everything is lined up correctly when exporting to Excel.
  • Bring back the user application. I am the developer and I would like to create canned reports for users to allow them to just change the parameter fields and update the data.
  • SSRS and Report Writer
I believe that Crystal Reports is more user friendly compared to Report Writer and SSRS.
Since Crystal Reports works with all data types, I think it is well suited for all users and all reporting. Ultimately, it comes down to the developer knowing the data source and what data needs to be extracted from them. I use it mainly on reporting, but I also use it for professional internal forms, invoices, communication to customers, etc.

SAP Crystal Feature Ratings

BI Platform ()
Not Rated
Supported Data Sources ()
Not Rated
7.7
Pixel Perfect reports
8
Customizable dashboards
7
Report Formatting Templates
8
6.3
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
7
Integration with R or other statistical packages
Not Rated
Report sharing and collaboration
2
10.0
Publish to Web
Not Rated
Publish to PDF
10
Report Versioning
Not Rated
Report Delivery Scheduling
Not Rated
Not Rated
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
Not Rated
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
Not Rated
Predictive Analytics
Not Rated
1.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
Not Rated
Role-Based Security Model
Not Rated
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
1
Not Rated
Responsive Design for Web Access
Not Rated
Mobile Application
Not Rated
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
Not Rated
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding ()
Not Rated

Using SAP Crystal Reports

1 - Just me. I am in IT and I provide reports to Executives, Accounting, and End Users.
N/A - Just me. I have a background in IT and I oversee all of the IT department, including the database team.
  • Reporting
  • Forms
  • Invoices
  • Correspondence
  • Updated reporting
  • Easy to link to several data sources
  • I think we are fairly boring. We mainly use it to extract data for ad hoc reports.

Comments

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